Diverse, peaceful crowd packs art-gallery square during Occupy Vancouver protest

VANCOUVER – Demonstrators protesting corporate greed and social inequality are packing a one-block square behind the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Occupy Vancouver kicked off around 10 a.m. today in the city’s downtown core.

It’s one of many similar peaceful protests taking place across the country.

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Social worker Tony Vanon says he’s attending the protest because he’s been forced to enrol his special-needs daughter in a private school due to long waits for assessments in the public system.

University of British Columbia student Roger Clarke, says he’s there to help raise money for a U.S.-based animal-rescue group and calls the turnout fantastic.

Meanwhile, retired Canadian soldier Gary Grigg says he wants equity and notes people around the world are waking up about the status quo.